Is Paramount going to move PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 5 to next year?

The Wrap is reporting that Paramount is considering moving the fifth installment of PARANORMAL ACTIVITY to January of 2014. No decision has been made yet and nobody knows why Paramount is considering moving the film out of its current October 25, 2013 slot.

It’s fun to speculate though and the only reasons I can think of, are either the film is behind schedule, or more likely, Paramount is looking at the success horror films have recently had in January and are worried about the performance of PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4.

Paramount’s own, THE DEVIL INSIDE, opened to $33 million in January of 2012, and this year, TEXAS CHAINSAW 3D, opened to $21 million in January. Other studios are already catching on though, as Fox has DEVIL’S DUE, Dimension has THE AMITYVILLE HORROR: THE LOST TAPES and Lionsgate has JESSABELLE, all horror films that are scheduled for this coming January. Meanwhile, October only has the remake of CARRIE and PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 5 currently scheduled. I know, it seems kind of weird to me too that we are getting more horror films in January than October. (It would also be strange to not have a PARANORMAL ACTIVITY or SAW film at Halloween, as this would be the first time in ten years without either.)

It does seem kind of risky for Paramount to mess with a formula that has been extremely successful over the last four years. All of the previous films have been released in October and have grossed a combined total of about $720 million worldwide on a combined budget of about $13 million (not including p&a).

To be fair, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 was the lowest grossing film in the franchise and grossed about $67 million less than PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3, worldwide. Maybe they think this will rejuvenate the franchise, although I don’t think there is a lot of traction left with the PARANORMAL ACTIVITY franchise. Not to mention, most people hated the last film.

Paramount has still not announced who directed PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 5 yet or any plot details. (Yes, I used the past tense because apparently the film has already been filmed.) We should be hearing some more details soon and confirmation on the release date, so stay tuned.

In the meantime, let me know what you guys think. Are you done with this franchise? Do you think moving the film to January is a good idea?